Dave Mackey

About

Dave Mackey (born November 22, 1969) is an American ultrarunner and physician associate from Boulder, Colorado — one of the most decorated American male ultra runners of the 2000s, and the author of one of the sport's most extraordinary stories of injury and recovery. He began ultrarunning in 1997 and built a résumé that made him the benchmark of American ultra performance: USATF national champion at 50K, 50 miles, and 100 kilometres; winner of the American River 50, Miwok 100K, Way Too Cool 50K, JFK 50 Miler, Zane Grey 50, Mountain Masochist 50, and Quad Dipsea; Montrail Cup champion in 2004 and 2011; three-time top-ten finisher at Western States. In 2007 he set the FKT on the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim — the 42-mile double-crossing — in under seven hours. UltraRunning Magazine named him North American Ultrarunner of the Year in 2011; USATF named him Ultrarunner of the Year in 2004 and 2005. On May 23, 2015, a routine run above Boulder ended in catastrophe when a 300-pound boulder crushed his lower left leg after a 50-foot fall. After thirteen surgeries over sixteen months, he elected amputation below the knee in September 2016. Less than two years later he completed the entire Leadman Series — including the Leadville Trail 100 Run and Bike — with a prosthetic leg, becoming the first amputee to do so, and subsequently reset the Grand Canyon R2R2R record as an amputee. A Colorado Running Hall of Fame inductee (2018), Mackey continues to race and work as a physician associate in emergency medicine.

Notable Wins

• — American River 50
• — Miwok 100K
• — Way Too Cool 50K
• — JFK 50 Miler
• — Zane Grey 50
• — Mountain Masochist 50
• — Quad Dipsea; USATF national champion 50K
• — 50M
• — 100K; Montrail Cup 2004
• — 2011; UltraRunning Magazine NA Ultrarunner of the Year 2011; USATF Ultrarunner of the Year 2004
• — 2005; Grand Canyon R2R2R FKT 2007 (<7 hours); Leadman 2018 (first amputee finisher); Colorado Running Hall of Fame 2018

Race History